battle, some will be bruising, none more so than the president's pick for defense secretary, chuck hagel. those hearings could start as early as this week we're told by senate sources and the white house mounted a vigorous defense and hagel says his record on israel, iran and gays in the military has been distorted and the senate armed services committee, kelly ayotte says what worries her most is the reaction from iran. >> what i want to make sure is that iran is actually not hopeful, but they're fearful, as r ult of our nominee from the secretary of perspective. >> former chairman of joint chiefs and secretary of state colin powell gave his backing to hagel today then though then senator hagel was one of the largest critics of the iraq war, a war that powell helped sell to the american people. and hagel later tried to stop the surge in iraq, calling it the biggest foreign policy blunder since vietnam. >> superbly qualified based on his overall record, based on his service to the country, based on how he feels about troops and veterans and families. >> reporter: the president is gearin
